Trailer Wheel Alignment

[dzeppos]

Just got my trailer (2016 shorelander (24ft)) and boat serviced when i noticed the left rear tire is showing uneven wear. It’s the third year for my tires, and i tow about 1500 miles a summer. The other rear right tire has some uneven tread but it’s the left rear tire that has me concerned. Is it a bent axle or typical. Can i get a wheel alignment? Any thoughts? Thx in advance

 

[JWExperience]

Did you take any measurements? You can measure inside sidewall to inside sidewall of your tires on the front, back, top and bottom to see if anything is initially out of whack with toe or camber.
I’ve occasionally had axles move a little from screwed up ramps and measured from a solid point on the tongue to the front of the wheels to measure and adjust also. Does the trailer seem to track right behind your vehicle?
May also just be an issue with the tire, trailers don’t always come with good tires.

 

[Scarab 215]

Just got my trailer (2016 shorelander (24ft)) and boat serviced when i noticed the left rear tire is showing uneven wear. It’s the third year for my tires, and i tow about 1500 miles a summer. The other rear right tire has some uneven tread but it’s the left rear tire that has me concerned. Is it a bent axle or typical. Can i get a wheel alignment? Any thoughts? Thx in advance

Hope your able to figure it out. Here some info that might steer you in the right direction.

Fix Mysterious Trailer Tire Wear Problems

Check alignment of a multi-axle trailer

Check alignment of a single-axle trailer

 

[dzeppos]

Did you take any measurements? You can measure inside sidewall to inside sidewall of your tires on the front, back, top and bottom to see if anything is initially out of whack with toe or camber.
I’ve occasionally had axles move a little from screwed up ramps and measured from a solid point on the tongue to the front of the wheels to measure and adjust also. Does the trailer seem to track right behind your vehicle?
May also just be an issue with the tire, trailers don’t always come with good tires.

I'm going to measure tomorrow and see if the axel is bent. Tires were put on brand new in 2017 (Carlisle Radial replacements) - and don't know if this happened recently or has been building up since 2017. the other tires look good - but since they are 3 years old - this was going to be their last year anyways. Has any one else had this issue on the shorelander trailer?

 

[PeterB]

We have roughly 7000 miles on the current set of Carlisle Radials with no noticeable wear. These boats are well within the range of the trailer so overloading is not likely. I would check for the bent axle as you suspected, and check the linkage between springs. Is the trailer fairly level while towing? Hope you can find and resolve the issue without too much trouble!

 

[marcham]

Can you post a picture of the entire axle? It should have a slight bend. What's the condition of the springs? Is one flatter than the others?

 

[dzeppos]

I will - although there's a reputable RV and Trailer shop down the street that's going to look at it - this will be my 4th season with the tires so maybe its also a good reason to get new tires since I'll be towing a lot (and first trip houseboating at Lake Powell - but that's for another forum . . .

 

[GermanAR230]

Just got my trailer (2016 shorelander (24ft)) and boat serviced when i noticed the left rear tire is showing uneven wear. It’s the third year for my tires, and i tow about 1500 miles a summer. The other rear right tire has some uneven tread but it’s the left rear tire that has me concerned. Is it a bent axle or typical. Can i get a wheel alignment? Any thoughts? Thx in advance

Having similar issues with one of my trailer tires, do you ever got to the bottom of it...?

 

[GermanAR230]

Hope your able to figure it out. Here some info that might steer you in the right direction.

Fix Mysterious Trailer Tire Wear Problems

Check alignment of a multi-axle trailer

Check alignment of a single-axle trailer

Looking into this for my trailer but couple of the links above are dead...

 

[dzeppos]

Yes - need a new axle as it the original was bent - I replaced it and no problems since (Ran me $800) . . . .

 

[GermanAR230]

Yes - need a new axle as it the original was bent - I replaced it and no problems since (Ran me $800) . . . .

Ah... sorry to hear that and thank you for closing the loop on this.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

usually it ends up being a bent axel

 

[GermanAR230]

Fail to take some pictures but next time I will but measured the wheel-to-wheel distance and the side that seems to be tracking good is 33 3/4" and the side that is wearing the rear tire measured 34 1/4. This alone confirms that rear axel is off by 1/2" in relation to the position of the front tire. I now need to figure out if there is an adjustment to "slide" axel by 1/2" toward the front to match the 33 3/4" side. Any thoughts...?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Any reputable alignment shop should be able to true up a set of trailer axles, using a porta power ram and chain. I had the axles on my toy hauler aligned, they were horribly out of alignment from the factory, and the tires have ran true ever since. Running a trapezoidal measurement between the axles center points using a plumb bob is relatively easy and a first step in checking that the axles are parallel. The next step is to run a measurement from the ball / tow point to each of the front axles where the plumb bob touched the ground.

 

[GermanAR230]

Any reputable alignment shop should be able to true up a set of trailer axles, using a porta power ram and chain. I had the axles on my toy hauler aligned, they were horribly out of alignment from the factory, and the tires have ran true ever since. Running a trapezoidal measurement between the axles center points using a plumb bob is relatively easy and a first step in checking that the axles are parallel. The next step is to run a measurement from the ball / tow point to each of the front axles where the plumb bob touched the ground.

Thanks for the perspective FSH 210 Sport, it does make lot of sense to me and I appreciate the technical insight. I've just looked thru my pictures although nothing jumps at a glance when looking into the tire from afar.

Picture below try to show rear (Port side) tire that is wearing the inside in caparison to other tires. The Port side measured 34 1/4.





Picture above actually looks terrible as it's a crop from a bigger picture (Port side) this side 34" 1/4. For reference below is the other side (Starboard) which tires seems to track fine with not noticeable nor uneven wear (Measured 33" 3/4) , which despite of the apparent "lean" on the pic does not seems be wearing the inner part of the tires.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Took me a while to find these…. Here’s the two tech’s setting not only camber, but toe using aforementioned hydraulic ram and a chain. Each tire on my toy hauler had a different camber, the front axle was toed in too far, and the rear was toed out. These guys did such a good job the tires wear perfectly even. I had my truck done there and it tracked perfectly straight and the tires wore perfect.

 

[GermanAR230]

Took me a while to find these…. Here’s the two tech’s setting not only camber, but toe using aforementioned hydraulic ram and a chain. Each tire on my toy hauler had a different camber, the front axle was toed in too far, and the rear was toed out. These guys did such a good job the tires wear perfectly even. I had my truck done there and it tracked perfectly straight and the tires wore perfect.

View attachment 165996View attachment 165997

OK... now I'm truly impressed.
Thank you for digging these out....!

 

[Seadeals]

I have actually done that myself on my travel trailer. It has “Wide Stance” which is marketing bs for towing better but it really stresses the crap out of the axles which are meant to bend (toe in/out) when you turn but with axles as small as they can legally outfit it only takes a tight turn to screw them up. The first thing to do is rotate a tire to that spot. Spread the wear until you get it figured out. Trailer tires wear out from age more than tread wear so it can keep you going for a while.

 

[GermanAR230]

I have actually done that myself on my travel trailer. It has “Wide Stance” which is marketing bs for towing better but it really stresses the crap out of the axles which are meant to bend (toe in/out) when you turn but with axles as small as they can legally outfit it only takes a tight turn to screw them up. The first thing to do is rotate a tire to that spot. Spread the wear until you get it figured out. Trailer tires wear out from age more than tread wear so it can keep you going for a while.

Thank you for the words of encouragement Seadeals. I now have the entire winter to do some more research and determine my next step. Since I noticed the uneven wear I have replaced the wheel baring and race on the wheel in question, as originally thought that was the culprit. At the time I also took tire to a shop to have re-mounted/re-balance inside out. As problem persisted and based on feedback from this forum need to do some work better aligning the axel to track straight. I'm very grateful to this forum world of knowledge, wisdom and prior experience.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thank you for the words of encouragement Seadeals. I now have the entire winter to do some more research and determine my next step. Since I noticed the uneven wear I have replaced the wheel baring and race on the wheel in question, as originally thought that was the culprit. At the time I also took tire to a shop to have re-mounted/re-balance inside out. As problem persisted and based on feedback from this forum need to do some work better aligning the axel to track straight. I'm very grateful to this forum world of knowledge, wisdom and prior experience.

View attachment 166008 View attachment 166009

Suggestion, take it to an alignment shop and have them check camber and toe, that will at least let you know where the problems are.